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In Pragmatism , William James attacked the transcendental, rationalist tradition in philosophy and tried to clear the ground for the doctrine he called radical empiricism. The book caused an uproar; it was greeted with praise, hostility, and ridicule. Determined to clarify the pragmatic conception of truth, James collected nine essays he had written on this subject before he wrote Pragmatism and six written later in response to criticisms of that volume by Bertrand Russell and others. He published the collection under the title "The Meaning of Truth" in 1909, the year before his death.

The Meaning of Truth shows James at his best-clear and readable as always, and full of verve and good humor. Intent upon making difficult ideas clear, he is also forceful in his effort to make them prevail.

Tabla de contenidos provista por Syndetics

• I The Function of Cognition(p. 1)
• II The Tigers in India(p. 43)
• III Humanism and Truth(p. 51)
• IV The Relation between Knower and Known(p. 102)
• V The Essence of Humanism(p. 121)
• VI A Word More about Truth(p. 136)
• VII Professor Pratt on Truth(p. 162)
• VIII The Pragmatist Account of Truth and its Mis-understanders(p. 180)
• IX The Meaning of the Word Truth(p. 217)
• X The Existence of Julius Caesar(p. 221)
• XI The Absolute and the Strenuous Life(p. 226)
• XII Professor Hebert on Pragmatism(p. 230)
• XIII Abstractionism and 'Relativismus'(p. 246)
• XIV Two English Critics(p. 272)
• XV A Dialogue(p. 287)

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

William James, oldest of five children (including Henry James and Alice James) in the extraordinary James family, was born in New York City on January 11, 1842. He has had a far-reaching influence on writers and thinkers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Broadly educated by private tutors and through European travel, James initially studied painting. During the Civil War, however, he turned to medicine and physiology, attended Harvard medical school, and became interested in the workings of the mind.

His text, The Principles of Psychology (1890), presents psychology as a science rather than a philosophy and emphasizes the connection between the mind and the body. James believed in free will and the power of the mind to affect events and determine the future. In The Will to Believe (1897) and The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902), he explores metaphysical concepts and mystical experiences. He saw truth not as absolute but as relative, depending on the given situation and the forces at work in it. He believed that the universe was not static and orderly but ever-changing and chaotic. His most important work, Pragmatism (1907), examines the practical consequences of behavior and rejects the idealist philosophy of the transcendentalists. This philosophy seems to reinforce the tenets of social Darwinism and the idea of financial success as the justification of the means in a materialistic society; nevertheless, James strove to demonstrate the practical value of ethical behavior. Overall, James's lifelong concern with what he called the "stream of thought" or "stream of consciousness" changed the way writers conceptualize characters and present the relationship between humans, society, and the natural world. He died due to heart failure on August 26, 1910.

(Bowker Author Biography)